Super pumped for international netball! Why not have a bit of fun and try to predict the Diamonds lineup?…
England historically perform best in the first game of any series against Australia – there could be many reasons for this. Marinkovich will want to definitely win every test, and she’s already dealing with a team minus Bruce and Weston, so the starting lineup will be largely from the World Cup EXCEPT I feel we’ll see Garrett at GD and specialist WD Parmenter. There is room to experiment with one player in shooting and midcourt, and let’s bear in mind New Zealand will be considered the bigger challenge. So here’s one possible 12 and a couple of 7’s for the Aus v Eng series.
Koenan Garbin Austin Horjus (because Dwyer is needed for Con Cup)
Watson Hadley JLP Parmenter (Moloney in for Con Cup)
Klau Aryang Garrett Ervin (personally I might not pick Ellis, except if either series is wrapped up or if Ervin underperforms or someone has an injury niggle, don’t get me wrong, she’s awesome, just not quite ready IMHO)
Garbin
Austin
Watson
Hadley
Parmenter
Garrett
Klau
Semi-planned change for me would be to gradually move everyone forward, so second half Garbin Austin Watson JLP Aryang Klau Ervin, and if we’re doing well Horjus at GA and (maybe) back to Garrett GD for last quarter, potentially Hadley at WA (but prob not til second test). I don’t see a problem with Koenen not getting a run in the first test, and I’d plan to have her do a full match in the second, if things are going fine.
Then again, running a super strong and experienced lineup for the whole game with one or two impact players during the third quarter might make complete sense. England do fight back from reasonable deficits to threaten Australia, and Diamonds need to be better at adjusting and fending this off and/or recognising when adaptations and changes are required.
Also wouldn’t be SURPRISED to see Koenen with Horjus at some stage in this series, but we’ve never seen Horjus in combo with any of the others so it’s hard to read how her debut would be most comfortable. Even having her at WA and Watson at C would be pretty cool for the first test.
I think Garrett is the definite second or equal best GD of 2024 after/with Weston, and Aryang didn’t play badly she just wasn’t as good as 2023. To me given their ages and possible future in Diaomnds this means evaluating the difference between JLP, Parmenter and Aryang at WD, while also Garrett vs Aryang at GD.
